Soc Sec planning
Is this true?
will SS allow the larger income earner in the family to defer his SS ( get 7 % increase each year of deferral), let the wife take hers at 62 and the husband can ALSO
collect 1/2 of her SS ( if he is retired) . Once he takes his at say age 65 , she then can receive 1/2 of his SS if it is larger than her SS at age 62? and this would not involve any of the “buybacks” that are also permitted?
Permalink Submitted by Alan Spross on Fri, 2009-10-16 23:50
You should post this on a SS related site.
However, I do see a couple things that will not work here. First, if the higher earner wants to collect on the lower earners benefits while banking delayed retirement credits (current 8% a year), the higher earner MUST have reached normal retirement age, currently 66. If the higher earner applies prior to the NRA, the application is deemed filed for the higher of their own or the spousal benefit. But at NRA, the higher earner can opt for the lower spousal benefit.
This spousal benefit is not 50% of what the spouse is collecting, but 50% of what the spouse would have received if they waited until their own NRA to file. This will therefore be somewhat higher than 50% of what the lower earning spouse is actually collecting. If the higher earner than passes before claiming on their own record, the lower earner can get 50% of what the higher earner would have been entitled to at time of death.
The following is only a guess, but I do not believe that the lower earner can collect on the higher earner’s record while the higher earner is taking spousal benefits. In other words, they cannot both be collecting off the other’s record at the same time. This is the one you need to research further.